Rural telephone provider CenturyTel raised its quarterly dividend tenfold and said it expects to meet or beat its second-quarter results forecast from June. The company raised its quarterly dividend to 70 cents a share, from 6.75 cents. The action came as a surprise to Bank of America, which believes the carrier was trying "to avoid finding itself at the low end of the valuation scale" in the industry amid "a notable uptick" in merger speculation. The bank said CenturyTel has always expressed the desire to be an industry consolidator but its low stock valuation has gotten in the way of potential deals.
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